Transformers: The Forsaken Crusade
by PricksAndNeedles
Summary: Similar to IDW's MTMTE, a group of disgruntled Decepticons decides to leave Cybertron after the events of Dark Cybertron, their whole world having been turned upside down. They hope to find new purpose and solace in the stars, but the universe is a dangerous place for stray Decepticons.
1. Foreword

**FOREWORD**

_The following fan fiction takes place in the IDW universe after the Dark Cybertron arc. Please be aware that spoilers for Dark Cybertron and perhaps MTMTE and RID issues taking place after the events of Dark Cybertron will be included within the fan fiction._

After the events of Dark Cybertron, a crew of Decepticons loyal to their cause and forsaken by their old leader Megatron set off on the _Justified Means_, a large transport ship converted to the new crew's needs, into the stars. An unknown benefactor has gathered anyone not willing to stay behind on Cybertron under Starscream's thumb or follow the ancient warrior Galvatron to Earth.

_Written by the combined efforts of __**Seibertron RPG**__ members: Foxfire13795, MasterSoundBlaster, and Big Top._


	2. Chapter One: Shot in the Dark

**Chapter One: Shot in the Dark**

Sitting along in the most remote corner of the Autobot Blurr's little business, a jet black and crimson femme stared down into her glass. She tilted the half-empty glass around to slosh around its contents in a lazy whorl. She lifted up the glass with a sharp abrupt movement and downed the fuel within in one gulp. The femme grabbed the bottle on the table and poured more into her glass. She set it down and mused at the bottle's label as she had done many times in the last breem. It read 'Nightmare Fuel' and even had a little art of Skullgrin on it. The femme shook her head with a strained, wry smile and sipped some more Nightmare Fuel from her glass.

The femme stiffened when she noted someone new in the bar moving toward her with slow deliberate steps as if they were approaching a wounded animal. She waited until the mech came to a stop beside her table, his unwanted presence there looming like the haze of stupidity.

"Honestly, you people," the femme growled out, "How many times to I have to fraggin' tell you?! I don't want to join your little party to that dirt planet." The femme kept her volume low so as to avoid attracting attention but kept her tone harsh and intense. "As much as I despise Starscream, I'm not about to follow a pretender only to be led astray again! I don't know how you people can blindly follow someone like that. At least Starscream was one of us for a time, even if he's always been a traitor at spark."

The mech standing beside her waited respectfully for the slightly drunken femme to finish her tirade. Once he was sure that the femme was finished, he cleared his throat and spoke, "Commander Flamewar, I did not come to speak to you about Galvatron. I come with a proposition. May I sit?"

Flamewar finally deigned to look at the mech, slightly surprised that her little rant had not scared him away. "Hellbat," she said flatly. Hellbat blinked in surprise. "Yes, yes, I know who you are, and you obviously know who I am. Sit."

"Thank you, Commander," Hellbat said with some regained composure. He swiftly took the opposing seat. Flamewar still sat slumped on the table not really bothering to present herself with any of her former dignity. "How's that leader of yours doing? Not Dezarus. I know he's been executed."

"He's well. In fact, he is the reason why I have come to you," Hellbat replied smoothly.

Flamewar gave Hellbat a look and waved at him to go on. "Well, he is…gathering together a crew of like-minded parties to depart Cybertron and search for a new place for us out in the stars."

Flamewar interjected, "You're leaving Cybertron?"

"Ah, well yes," Hellbat stuttered.

"I'm in."

* * *

"It's filthy out here, Needlenose! Honestly, this is no place to have a business!" Windsweeper fussed while polishing the counter of his and Needlenose's little roadside stand. The phrase 'Chic Chips' was scrawled across the front of the counter, which was essentially some pieces of scrap metal thrown together to make a ramshackle stand on the street.

"Don't worry about it, Windsweeper! How many times do I have to tell you? We gotta start small. We can't afford a place…yet. But as soon as these babies start selling like they used to…" Needlenose leaned against an adjacent building as he watched Windsweeper polish the counter of their sales stand for what had to be the umpteenth time in the last breem.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll be the heads of our own fashion empire. I've heard it before, Needlenose," Windsweeper snapped back. He then stopped his relentless polishing and whirled on Needlenose. "I'm tired of selling in these places! There's grit and grime and..and-"

"Customer!" Needlenose shouted pointing behind Windsweeper with wide optics. Windsweeper spun around to come face to face with a small, kind of dippy-looking mech. "Uhhhh…" was all Windsweeper managed to get out before Needlenose shoved the other Con to the side and spread his arms welcomingly to their customer.

"Welcome to Chic Chips, the finest and most fashionable in hardware accessories! How may I help you?" Needlenose said with all the charm of a practiced salesman.

Wipe-Out was taken a bit aback by Needlenose's contrary actions and politeness to him. The small mech stared at Needlenose stupidly. "Uhhh…I actually just came here to ask for directions…" Needlenose's faceplate flattened in irritation. Leaping over the counter and slinging an arm around the smaller mech's shoulder, Needlenose looked down at Wipe-Out.

"Look, pal. I'm trying to run a business here. Here's the deal. You buy one of my chips, and I'll give you directions to anywhere you want to go. How about it?" Needlenose's tone had changed from charming to slightly menacing in the span of a few seconds. Wipe-Out suddenly wished that he had never ever walked over here. "But…I don't have any money…" Wipe-Out whined out.

"Is there a problem over here?" asked a voice from behind Needlenose. The fashionista jumped and looked over his shoulder to see a kind of avian looking mech with a magenta paint job. "None at all!" Windsweeper interjected from behind the counter. Needlenose nodded and tightened his grip on Wipe-Out's shoulder. "Yeah, no problem! Right?" Needlenose asked Wipe-Out. "Uhh…" was all Wipe-Out could manage.

The newcomer sized up all three mechs present. "You lot wouldn't happen to be Decepticons, would you?" he asked.

"I am!" piped out Wipe-Out proudly. Needlenose looked down at his captive in disgust and shoved Wipe-Out away from him. He folded his arms over his chest plating and glared at this newcomer. "Used to be. There are no more Decepticons anymore. War's over, remember? Now buy something or get away from my shop."

"Our shop," Windsweeper corrected before beginning to nervously polish his precious countertop.

"Yes, that looks like it's going great for you," the newcomer said with a condescending glance over to the counter. "I've come with an offer for all of you. My commander is getting a bunch of Cons together. We'll find a new place for us. We don't have to deal with a wild Cybertron or a living city that constantly breaks down."

"No thanks," Needlenose spat venomously. "As you can see, we're doing fine right where we are."

The magenta mech gave Needlenose a long look before glancing over to Wipe-Out. "Yes, well. For the one true Decepticon left amongst this trio, here," the mech handled a card over to Wipe-Out before considering Needlenose and Windsweeper. "Just in case you two change your minds," he said and tossed two more cards onto their little counter before walking off.

Needlenose glared at him until he was out of sight then turned to Windsweeper and slammed his fist down onto the counter. "Who even was that guy?! What made him think he could just walk up to my shop and-" The rest of Needlenose's statement was cut off as the counter buckled under his weight and sent him crashing to the ground. Windsweeper jumped away to avoid the dust cloud that Needlenose kicked up with his little crash.

"Perhaps we should consider it, Needlenose. Wherever they're going has to be…cleaner than here," Windsweeper said as he dusted off Needlenose's hand so that he could help his friend up.

"I guess you're right Sweeper. It's not like we're having much luck here…" Needlenose said as he got back to his feet.

"Can I come with you guys? There are directions on this card, but…even with them I'm a little directionally challenged," Wipe-Out asked hopefully.

Windsweeper looked to Needlenose who shrugged. "Why not? I'll just add it to your tab along with a chic chip, ok? What's your name anyway?"

"Thanks a lot! I'm Wipe-Out! Wait. Tab?"

"Don't worry about that...It's nothing," Needlenose said as Windsweeper handed one of the cards over to him. "Let's get moving, huh?"

* * *

"Let me in this instant, you ruffians!" Mindwipe barked at the two brutish Decepticons standing guard at the entrance to the _Justified Means_. The two much larger mechs exchanged looks and grinned widely under their mouth plates at one another. "Ruffians? That hurts, Batzo. But inspectin' all luggage brought aboard is standard procedure, so 'fraid we can't let you in till you let us look inside that little box of yours. Isn't that right, Snapdragon?" said the more simian of the two guards.

Snapdragon grinned and nodded, "Why that's right, Apeface! There could be something heinous in it!" Snapdragon twisted his expression into one of mock horror. Apeface held one hand out for the black box that Mindwipe had tucked under one of his arms. The hypnotist glowered at the two Horrorcons. His optics flickered slightly as he began to hypnotize the two brutes. He waited until their pleased expressions faded into the familiar slack-jawed one that Mindwipe was ever so fond of seeing.

"You have already seen the contents of the box," Mindwipe said slowly, "And now you're going to allow me to board. Nod if you understand." The two Horrorcons slowly nodded in response. "When I snap my fingers, you shall remember it as I've stated and resume being who you are."

Mindwipe cautiously moved past the two Horrorcons, eying them warily. As he crossed the threshold into the ship, a smug smile spread across Mindwipe's faceplate. He strolled leisurely into the ship and snapped his fingers.

Snapdragon glanced around a bit confused at first, looking around for Mindwipe until he remembered that they had already moved him along. He looked over to Apeface with a bored expression. "I guess that was fun enough. When do you think all of the people that the captain has recruited will get here? I'm itching for an oil bath."

"They'll get here when they get here," Apeface grumbled out to his fellow Horrorcon. "We'll just give them trouble for being late. Oh, oh! Look at that one!"

Snapdragon looked over in the direction that Apeface was pointing. A devilish grin spread behind his mouth plate. A new crimson mech approached the pair of Horrorcons and moved past them toward the open doorway. He was met with a sharp shove my Snapdragon, sending him careening backwards in a heap.

"What was that for?!" he cried indignantly.

"Name," Apeface said with a straight face while he looked down at a datapad. Snapdragon turned his head slightly to conceal his snickering.

"What?!" the mech asked as he picked himself up off of the ground and dusted himself off. "Knock-Out. My name is Knock-Out."

"MMmmmmmmmmmm…" Apeface tapped a stylus to his chin as he made a show of carefully examining the datapad. "Nope. You're not on the list."

"List? What list?" Knock-Out asked baffled.

"The one to get in. You need to be on it to get in, and there's no Knock-Out on the list," Apeface said as if he were explaining it to a little protoform. He folded his arms over his chest and waved at Knock-Out dismissively. "Get out of here."

"I was invited here! See?" Knock-Out held up the card that Drillhorn had given him. "Let me in." Knock-Out glared at Apeface with a look of pure exasperation. Apeface looked over very deliberately to Snapdragon. "He's got one of those passes, Snapdragon."

"I guess we can make an exception and add him to the list," Snapdragon said with a smirk hidden by his mouth plate, looking down on Knock-Out. Apeface drew himself up and made a show of writing Knock-Out's name onto his datapad. "In you get," he said with a chuckle.

"Hmph," Knock-Out passed the two Horrorcons, muttering to himself, "Brutish dolts…" A sudden, sharp, searing sensation made Knock-Out yelp with pain and surprise. He whirled about to see that Snapdragon had slashed his arm with his clawed actuator. Both Horrorcons glared at the mechanic balefully. The crimson medic slowly let his optics drop down to the damage on his arm. "No! My paint! Do you know what you've done!?"

"You'll get worse next time," Snapdragon growled out harshly.

"Get lost," Apeface said with a look that could bludgeon anyone to death.

Knock-Out composed himself and hurried into the depths of the Decepticon ship. The furious optics of the Horrorcons followed him well after he had passed out of view.

* * *

The bridge of the _Justified Means_ was quiet and nearly void of any life while Leozack gazed out over the crowd lining up to board the ship. A satisfied grin etched across his faceplate as more and more mechs lined up to get off Cybertron.

""Look at them all, Skyquake! A new Decepticon army to be remade in my own visage!" The cyan and white commander stated aloud as his words echoed the interior of the bridge. "I almost didn't believe you when you said there'd be this many willing to leave the planet."

From the opposite side of the room, Skyquake stood with his arms folded over his chest plating and had optics locked on Leozack's position.

"Hmmph, you aren't much of a talker I see." Leozack mused as he turned and continued to peer out the looking glass over the former Decepticon crowd. "You know you ought to be a little more grateful, I could have left you to rust on that miserable rock."

"You're starting to sound like _him_." The former leader of the Predators stated breaking his silence. "We're leaving so we don't have to deal with mechs like Starscream."

"Right, right. Just getting a little excited about the turn out."

"Take pride in the masses, but the moment you let your pride blind you is the moment you become just like him."

"I know," Leozack said, his tone becoming somber, "It is a lesson that I have learned the hard way..." Leozack paused before continuing, "Starscream is my inferior in every conceivable way. While his kingdom crumbles, we shall create a new glorious empire, freed from the shadows of the likes of Megatron and Shockwave."

"We're far from an empire, Leozack," Skyquake cautioned, "A rag-tag crew of disgruntled veterans."

"Please, Skyquake. You underestimate them," Leozack retorted. When Skyquake did not provide any rebuttal, the captain cast his red optics down onto the masses grouping below once more.

* * *

Sparkstalker walked along the corridors of the _Justified Means_, taking his own personal tour of the ship with Slugslinger following closely behind him. Slugslinger wore a rather bored expression on his faceplate as his optics scanned the corridors for any sign of impending danger. There were none, but it was something that he had to do. A sigh escaped his vocalizer as he looked down at his employer. "Hey, boss. I don't think we should be wandering around here. The invitation said to go in the other direction and wait for the captain to brief us."

Sparkstalker turned on his heel sharply, nearing causing Slugslinger to bump into the smaller mechanoid. "I hired you to protect me, not ask questions!" the cryptologist snapped. Slugslinger raised his hands up in surrender, rolling his optics. He followed along behind his volatile employer as they wandered through the ship.

Sparkstalker had Slugslinger check around corners before they rounded them, look inside doors before they were completely opened, and other such paranoia driven precautions. That was, until eventually Slugslinger just stopped and stared at Sparkstalker. "Look, boss. It might be safer if we got to the place and scoped it out before anyone else gets there. Plus, there's less risk of someone trying to off you in a crowd! They could be watching us right now…and we wouldn't know it! Not that anyone would be dumb enough to attack with me right next to you. Bam! Bam!"

Sparkstalker glanced back at Slugslinger and cast an anxious glance around him. The hallway suddenly seemed a lot more open than it had before, and he a lot more vulnerable. "Y-yes. Perhaps you have a point. Let us go convene with the others," Sparkstalker muttered.

"Great!" Slugslinger said with some renewed vigor as he shoved Sparkstalker out in front of him. "I'll hold up the rear then. Don't want to get ambushed from behind!" he said with a sneer. With a few initially tentative steps forward, Sparkstalker hurried on down the corridor with Slugslinger following fairly closely behind.

From behind the bodyguard and cryptologist, two red optics glinted in the darkness.

* * *

"Are we lost?" Needlenose asked as he scanned the barren horizon of Cybertron. Windsweeper and Wipe-Out plodded along beside him. At his query, both of them glanced around for any sign of where to go. "I hope not. I can feel rust particles working their way into my internal mechanisms. Much longer and I'll need a full pressure washing to feel clean again," Windsweeper whined.

Needlenose let out a sigh and put his hands on his hips as he turned to Wipe-Out with narrowed optics. "Is this directionally-challenged thing of yours contagious?"

"Contagious?!" Windsweeper cried, leaping away from Wipe-Out, "Stay back! Augh! Everything here it so filthy…!"

Wipe-Out looked at the two taller mechs helplessly. "No…I don't think so. This kind of thing always happens to me…" the smaller mech stammered. Hastily, he lifted his hand up above his visor and swept his optics out over the terrain. "Uhh…um…Oh! Oh! I see something! Look! Over there!" Wipe-Out pointed toward a silhouette on the horizon. In his enthusiasm, Wipe-Out began running toward it.

Only to suddenly discover that the ground beneath his feet had magically vanished.

_CRASH! BANG! CLUNK! THUNK!_

"Uhhh….?" Wipe-Out was upside down. On his head in fact. He flailed his limbs around until he flipped down onto his back. Lifting his optics up to finally take stock of his situation, Wipe-Out came face plate to face plate with a mech that had no optics. "EEP!" Wipe-Out squeaked in panic and crawled backwards as fast as he could until he butted up against something solid behind him.

Upon closer inspection, Wipe-Out was able to delineate that the opticless mech was an unfinished protoform. Despite that fact, Wipe-Out's optics grew no less wide. He stared at the protoform in silence until he heard someone call out to him.

"Hey! Wipe-Out! You alright down there?" Needlenose called.

"Did you land in anything unsavory?" Windsweeper asked.

Wipe-Out managed to tear his optics away from the protoform in time to catch Needlenose punch Windsweeper in the shoulder. "I'm…fine! I think…?"

"What's down there?" Needlenose called.

Wipe-Out glanced back to the incomplete protoform, then moved his optics around the rest of his surroundings. Pitch black greeted him. Turning on one of his flood lights, Wipe-Out shone a little light on his surroundings. Pods with some sort of fluid in them lined the walls with various protoforms in various stages of completion floating in them. Wires hung from the ceiling and draped down on the tables below, and broken containers laid strewn about the floor and tables.

"It…kinda looks like an old lab," Wipe-Out called up to his friends topside.

"What? Hold on," Needlenose dropped down the hole that Wipe-Out had created and landed with a thunk beside Wipe-Out. "Whoa…Windsweeper, you've gotta check this out!"

With a groan, Windsweeper dropped down the hole as well, narrowly avoiding landing on top of Wipe-Out. By this time Needlenose had moved off to inspect some of the pods and their contents. Windsweeper moved to join his friend, taking care to avoid the scattered debris around the room, casting a disdainful look at everything.

Wipe-Out finally picked himself off of the floor and gathered his feet beneath him. He glanced over to the two taller mechs and rubbed the back off his head feeling a little left out. Moving over to the end of the line of pods, Wipe-Out looked at the being inside. It was very developed. It had optics and…a face…and pretty much everything looked intact. It was missing its lower leg and arm…but. She looked completely normal otherwise. Wipe-Out thought she because her form definitely had the attributes of other femmes that he'd seen. Not that he had seen that many, but this was definitely a she.

Wipe-Out reached out and rested a hand on the pod.

_Per-wiiiiip! Per-wiiiiip!_

Wipe-Out jumped back and stared in surprise as the pod came to life. The fluid drained from the pod, its hatch slid open with a definite hiss. The femme inside slumped forward, collapsing uncertainly onto her one fully formed leg. "What did you do?!" Needlenose said as he rushed over closely followed by Windsweeper.

"I don't know! I touched it and stuff happened!"

"Is she dead?" Windsweeper asked as he leaned forward to inspect the femme curiously.

"I don't know…" Needlenose said as he reached out a finger to poke the fluid-coated femme.

Suddenly, the femme's amber optics flashed to life, and she lurched forward reaching a hand out toward the trio of Decepticons. She garbled out some raspy, strangled noises from her vocal processor.

"AHHHH!" the three screamed in unison, huddling together with wide optics. The femme's optics dimmed as she entered stasis lock and slumped down over the open pod. The three Decepticons exchanged looks and hastily separated. "What're we gonna do with her?" Wipe-Out asked, "We can't just leave her here."

"I guess not…" Needlenose conceded.

"I'm not touching her while she's covered in that slime," Windsweeper said flatly.

"I got it. Let's hurry up and get out of here, or they'll leave without us," Needlenose said as he hefted the femme up.

* * *

With the crew of the _Justified Means_ assembled in its entirety in the main hall, now repurposed to serve as a ceremonial chamber complete with stage, Leozack stepped out onto said stage to address those that had gathered before him. The crowd's dull roar eventually died out as their optics turned toward him.

"My fellow Decepticons, I thank you for deigning to join me on my glorious expedition into the stars! Freed from the shadows of the likes of Megatron, Shockwave, and Starscream, we shall find a new purpose for ourselves and achieve glory beyond all imagining."

"Perhaps one day, our brothers who journeyed to Earth with Galvatron will realize their folly and come to join our greatness. Perhaps not. But for our part, we shall excel! We shall conquer adversity! Those who stand against us shall fall before _because_ we are Decepticons!"

"And I shall be your captain," Leozack finished with a slight bow toward the crowd. "And he," Leozack said gesturing off to the open door, "Shall be my second-in-command." Skyquake stepped from the door with a stoic expression etched on his faceplate. He moved toward the stage and stopped once he was next to Leozack, casting his optics out onto the sea of face plates.

The crowd immediately erupted into a chorus of whispers and wide optics directed toward the leader of the Predators. Leozack smirked slightly at the crowd's reaction, letting it go on a fair while. He then raised his hand to make the whispering die down a bit as optics refocused on Leozack.

"And Flamewar shall be my third-in-command," Leozack said, gesturing toward a femme leaning against one of the walls.

Flamewar sighed inwardly as all optics now turned toward her. She pushed off of the wall that she had been leaning against and walked up onto the stage to stand on Leozack's left side. She offered the crowd a bored wave before placing her hands on her hips and waiting for Leozack to finish his little speech.

Leozack turned to address the mass of Decepticons before him. "Those with the skill, report to engineering! We launch in a breem! The rest of you are dismissed." Leozack gestured for Skyquake and Flamewar to follow him as he stepped down from the stage and made his way toward the bridge.

"Very impressive, Captain," Flamewar said flatly once they were in the hallway, "You really had them wrapped around your finger. With your permission, I would prefer to speed things along in engineering."

"Go on, then," Leozack said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Flamewar peeled off of their trio as Leozack and Skyquake entered the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge," called Submarauder.

"Engage thrusters," Leozack said, taking a seat in the command chair, "Warm up the quantum generators and prepare for jump."

"Aye, sir," Gaihawk called. The ship shook as it took its leave of the terrain below and entered into Cybertron's orbit. "Quantum generators prepped and ready, sir."

"Initiate quantum jump."

"Initiating quantum jump. Jump in three….two…one…" The ship lurched and shook as the quantum generators accomplished their customary task of defying the laws of physics. The ship lurched again as it ceased its quantum jump. They found themselves in the orbit of a foreign planet. "Where are we?" Leozack asked of those stationed on the bridge.

"Scans identify this planet as Salvvatan VIII," Stranglehold replied. "Orders, cap-"

_BOOM!_

A massive shockwave roiled through the ship as it shook and quaked. "What was _that_?!" Leozack snapped.

"We've been hit!" Hellbat cried, "Secondary Engine Block, Starboard side!"

"Heavy Concussion blast!" Killbison informed over the roar of the emergency siren, "Coming from the sur-"

_KRAKOOOOOM!_

"Captain, we've lost lateral controls! The ship's beginning to freefall!"

"Engage all emergency procedures!" Skyquake ordered as he stepped up beside Leozack who was still in shock of what was happening. "Prepare an emergency landing sequence. Engage all air brakes and activate the forward booster systems! Level us out!

"We haven't been in the air for half a breem yet and we're already under attack..." Leozack muttered to himself as he scanned the chaos erupting in the bridge. "What could have shot us?! Salvvatan VIII is uninhabited!" Leozack snarled.

"Apparently not as uninhabited as we thought," Skyquake said calmly as the ship descended down toward the planet's surface. Down. Down. Down toward whatever had shot them down.


End file.
